The Shaykh’s explanation of the athar of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "I am the first of the Arabs to shoot an arrow in the cause of Allah..."
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The Shaykh : We return to the hadiths of encouragement and warning, and we are on our previous condition, which we have pointed out repeatedly, that we select from them what is established from the hadith. Our hadith tonight is in my copy with the number sixty-seven. It says: And from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: "I am the first of the Arabs to shoot an arrow in the cause of Allah. And indeed, we used to go on expeditions with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and we had no food except the leaves of the hubla tree and this samur tree, until one of us would pass stool as a sheep passes stool, with no mixture in it." It was narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim.
Some people explain its obscure terms, saying that al-hubla is pronounced with a dammah on the haa and a sukoon on the baa, and al-sumr is pronounced with a fathah on the seen and a dammah on the mīm. Both are types of desert trees that bear no fruit, and this was their food. We used to go on military expeditions with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and we had no food except the leaves of al-hubla, which is a tree found in the wilderness and deserts. This al-sumr is also another type of tree from those lands, and this type of tree causes constipation in the body. Therefore, he describes this constipation that they suffer from due to eating this leaf. They find no place or substitute for it as food. He said: "Until one of us would pass as a sheep passes, having no mixture". "Pass" means he would suffer from constipation, just as a woman in labor faces difficulties. Some people who suffer from chronic constipation are aware of this; they are treated frequently, and often, until they expel their waste. It was mentioned to us in some hadiths that they would defecate like goats, meaning like goat dung. Why? Because there was no mixture; there was no other food for them to eat that would mix with that food and soften it. It was dry like stone. Therefore, when they went out to relieve themselves, they would pass as a sheep passes. They found difficulty due to this constipation resulting from eating the leaves of a tree that has no sweetness and none of the nutrients that soften the interior.
This was the food of whom? The food of those warrior Companions who conquered these lands for us. And from here we take a lesson that the generation that grows up in luxury and comfort and enjoying all the pleasures of life, it is difficult for them to strive in this way in the cause of Allah the Exalted and Majestic. That is because the human being, by the nature of being human, has his instincts and his dispositions. The more he becomes accustomed to loving the world and turning toward it and desiring it, the more he turns away from everything that contradicts this life, and especially death in the cause of Allah the Exalted and Majestic. So they are two connected matters: the more a person is saturated with his world, the more he turns away from his Hereafter and everything that leads to it. And the greatest thing that leads to the Hereafter and hastens a person to it is usually jihad in the cause of Allah. And the opposite of that: if a person is not turning toward the world, then his turning toward the Hereafter is his constant concern and his affair. And we see events and read every day that some of those who are afflicted with something that bothers them in the world, and they have no faith in the Hereafter, and they have nothing of the patience that the Muslim is commanded to possess, when they are afflicted with something of the calamities of the world, we find some of these people hasten to their own death by killing themselves. Why? Because he no longer has any desire for this world for any reason. So the desire for the world diverts a person from the Hereafter, and the desire for the Hereafter diverts him from the world. And this does not mean that he does not work for his world at all. And here faith and Islam intervene to adjust the reality of the person, so he is not one who turns toward his world such that he forgets his Hereafter and loses it, nor is he one who turns toward the Hereafter entirely such that he forgets his world, and then he also loses his Hereafter. Because Allah the Exalted and Majestic made this world the farm of the Hereafter. And the point of the hadith is that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were living a very severe life, and therefore they were patient with all patience regarding death, not caring at all, because what Allah had stored for them in the Hereafter of permanent bliss made them forget what they encountered of the severity of life and the hardship of existence in their world, even while they were going out on expeditions in the cause of Allah the Exalted and Majestic.
Among the virtues of Sa'd, as he himself testifies, and he is one of the most truthful of people, is that he said: "I am the first of the Arabs to shoot an arrow in the cause of Allah, Mighty and Majestic". The soul yearns, in reality, to know the details of this matter, but to the extent of my ability, I did not find a narration that explains this precedence: when it was and how it was. However, in any case, he is reporting this virtue that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, singled him out for, which is that he was the first to shoot an arrow in the cause of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Was this in one of the known battles, or was it in a non-battle occasion? That is something I have not come across.
So this man, who as you all know is one of the ten promised Paradise, says: "And indeed, we used to go on expeditions with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and we had no food except the leaves of the hubla and this samur, two trees as we mentioned, until one of us would pass stool as a sheep passes stool, with no mixture in it."
Some people explain its obscure terms, saying that al-hubla is pronounced with a dammah on the haa and a sukoon on the baa, and al-sumr is pronounced with a fathah on the seen and a dammah on the mīm. Both are types of desert trees that bear no fruit, and this was their food. We used to go on military expeditions with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and we had no food except the leaves of al-hubla, which is a tree found in the wilderness and deserts. This al-sumr is also another type of tree from those lands, and this type of tree causes constipation in the body. Therefore, he describes this constipation that they suffer from due to eating this leaf. They find no place or substitute for it as food. He said: "Until one of us would pass as a sheep passes, having no mixture". "Pass" means he would suffer from constipation, just as a woman in labor faces difficulties. Some people who suffer from chronic constipation are aware of this; they are treated frequently, and often, until they expel their waste. It was mentioned to us in some hadiths that they would defecate like goats, meaning like goat dung. Why? Because there was no mixture; there was no other food for them to eat that would mix with that food and soften it. It was dry like stone. Therefore, when they went out to relieve themselves, they would pass as a sheep passes. They found difficulty due to this constipation resulting from eating the leaves of a tree that has no sweetness and none of the nutrients that soften the interior.
This was the food of whom? The food of those warrior Companions who conquered these lands for us. And from here we take a lesson that the generation that grows up in luxury and comfort and enjoying all the pleasures of life, it is difficult for them to strive in this way in the cause of Allah the Exalted and Majestic. That is because the human being, by the nature of being human, has his instincts and his dispositions. The more he becomes accustomed to loving the world and turning toward it and desiring it, the more he turns away from everything that contradicts this life, and especially death in the cause of Allah the Exalted and Majestic. So they are two connected matters: the more a person is saturated with his world, the more he turns away from his Hereafter and everything that leads to it. And the greatest thing that leads to the Hereafter and hastens a person to it is usually jihad in the cause of Allah. And the opposite of that: if a person is not turning toward the world, then his turning toward the Hereafter is his constant concern and his affair. And we see events and read every day that some of those who are afflicted with something that bothers them in the world, and they have no faith in the Hereafter, and they have nothing of the patience that the Muslim is commanded to possess, when they are afflicted with something of the calamities of the world, we find some of these people hasten to their own death by killing themselves. Why? Because he no longer has any desire for this world for any reason. So the desire for the world diverts a person from the Hereafter, and the desire for the Hereafter diverts him from the world. And this does not mean that he does not work for his world at all. And here faith and Islam intervene to adjust the reality of the person, so he is not one who turns toward his world such that he forgets his Hereafter and loses it, nor is he one who turns toward the Hereafter entirely such that he forgets his world, and then he also loses his Hereafter. Because Allah the Exalted and Majestic made this world the farm of the Hereafter. And the point of the hadith is that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were living a very severe life, and therefore they were patient with all patience regarding death, not caring at all, because what Allah had stored for them in the Hereafter of permanent bliss made them forget what they encountered of the severity of life and the hardship of existence in their world, even while they were going out on expeditions in the cause of Allah the Exalted and Majestic.
Among the virtues of Sa'd, as he himself testifies, and he is one of the most truthful of people, is that he said: "I am the first of the Arabs to shoot an arrow in the cause of Allah, Mighty and Majestic". The soul yearns, in reality, to know the details of this matter, but to the extent of my ability, I did not find a narration that explains this precedence: when it was and how it was. However, in any case, he is reporting this virtue that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, singled him out for, which is that he was the first to shoot an arrow in the cause of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Was this in one of the known battles, or was it in a non-battle occasion? That is something I have not come across.
So this man, who as you all know is one of the ten promised Paradise, says: "And indeed, we used to go on expeditions with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and we had no food except the leaves of the hubla and this samur, two trees as we mentioned, until one of us would pass stool as a sheep passes stool, with no mixture in it."